Le stelle dimenticate : note ‘aratee’ sulla quarta ode del Tieste di Seneca

The fourth and final ode of Seneca’s Thyestes interprets the sudden disappearance of the sun, caused by the crimes of Atreus, as a sign of cosmic disruption and the return of chaos. Despite extensive critical exegesis, scholars have not paid much attention to the thirtytwo verses (842–874) in which Seneca, with considerable erudition, describes the fall of the constellations one by one. This paper analyses the astronomical section and its specific connections with the Aratean tradition in Latin poetry, which have not yet been fully recognised.